Chapter 848: Chapter 571: I Am the Master of the Absolute Peak (Monthly Ticket Request at the Beginning of the Month)
"So Red Lotus died just like that?"
Lu Chenzhou heard that the Red Lotus Demon Venerable self-destructed, and felt a bit regretful—what a pity, he didn’t get to swallow Red Lotus’s soul.
But he still had the Black Mountain Demon Saint’s soul, also of the Destruction Dao. Now that he was Seventh Realm, after stabilizing his realm he could attempt the devouring—should be enough to let Revolving enter the Fifth Rank.
His attainments in the Revolving Dao, Five Elements Dao, Wind and Thunder Dao, and Cold Ice Dao determined the power of his innate divine ability, [Nine Tribulation Lotus]. He was only Third Rank in Five Elements and Wind and Thunder Daos, and hadn’t yet mastered Cold Ice Dao, so he’d need to figure out a way to train it up.
Devouring souls was the fastest route.
Five Elements and Wind and Thunder were all common Laws; those skilled in such paths at Sixth and Seventh Realm among the demon race were everywhere.
Seeing Lu Chenzhou unharmed, the crowd all bid their farewell in turn.
"I’m heading back—old me got brushed by the aftermath of your tribulation, Lu my young friend, almost cost me half my life."
Old Ghost Yellow River gave a wry smile.
"This avatar of mine is scrap now too."
Emperor Hanu directly dispersed his avatar.
Lu Chenzhou cupped his fists in thanks.
"Protector, I shall never forget your great kindness for a lifetime."
Chen Beiming departed as well.
Before leaving, he sent Lu Chenzhou a voice transmission.
"You stabilize your realm first, come find me in Beidi City after some time. I’ll pass you the Supreme Treasure, Heavenly Person List."
"Alright."
"Also, for the Daoist School and Military Leader elections, remember to attend, hehe. My mission is finally done."
Old Chen left, smug and pleased.
Lu Chenzhou’s 1.3 million prajna of spiritual power surged out like a tide, telekinesis covering three thousand li.
In the end, he shook his head.
"So Red Lotus really left nothing behind. That Jade Bi too, reduced to dust and ashes."
The Jade Bi could enhance his attainments in the Causality Dao.
Causality had already become his strongest supporting Dao.
Lu Chenzhou was thinking of it a lot.
"The Ghost Empress of Ten Thousand Spiders and the Shadow Stream Dominator each have one too. Next, I’ll have to find a way to drag those two out."
...
Yun Meng City.
Night.
Villa by Stone Lake.
"Dad, I asked Elder Hanshan, senior said the tribulation is over, Junior Brother has already reached Absolute Peak!"
Ji Feiyan pushed open the door, leaping in.
Ji Xuantong’s beard and hair trembled, fists clenched in speechless excitement; after a while, he paced around the villa muttering to himself.
"My disciple is at Absolute Peak."
"I’m now teacher of the Absolute Peak!"
"Feels just like a dream."
"So accomplished... In the beginning, I only hoped to see him reach Heavenly King before I died, and would have been content. If he ever reached Absolute Peak, I’d want you girls to burn paper for me to tell me the news."
Old Ji was so excited he became incoherent.
Ji Feiyan pulled Shi Ruyu away.
"Let him enjoy himself."
"Where’s Junior Brother now?"
"Probably in seclusion. I heard from Elder Hanshan that after tribulation, the body is depleted and needs a long recovery."
"I really want to see what Junior Brother at Absolute Peak looks like."
The two senior sisters went off into the distance.
What they couldn’t see was, right outside the window, a nine-colored skull was standing quietly in the shadows, gazing in silence.
"Not seeing anyone for now."
The appearance really was quite scary.
Those with low cultivation might not be able to take it.
Especially the parents—already old, better not let them see something indescribable and get scared stiff.
Having seen his friends and kin,
Lu Chenzhou returned to Primordial Mountain Cave Heaven.
At Fu Mountain Dojo, Wang Xian and Lin Xia waited expectantly.
Seeing the nine-colored skull, they gave a start.
"Junior Brother?"
"It’s me."
"What happened?"
"Long story."
The three siblings chatted.
Wang Xian looked the skeleton up and down, laughing and crying at once.
"As long as you’re alright."
Lin Xia comforted:
"Actually, it looks pretty cool, but Junior Brother, you should get yourself a decent set of treasure armor to wear, otherwise it feels like you’re streaking."
"..."
Lu Chenzhou was speechless.
Screech—
The three looked toward Wang Changming’s seclusion chamber.
After forty years, the door finally opened, and a middle-aged man with a weathered face and disheveled hair stepped out.
"Master?"
"You’re finally out?"
Wang Xian and Lin Xia were overjoyed.
Wang Changming exhaled a breath of ancient pent-up air.
He spoke mildly:
"Yes, reached Heavenly King’s End Realm, about done with the acupoints, next is integrating everything and then researching a supreme divine skill, condensing a divine power seed... Shortest three years, longest ten, I should be able to break from Sixth to Seventh!"
Old Wang had been in seclusion for many years, but his boldness was undiminished. His martial arts talent, even among all of Da Xia’s Heavenly Kings, was top class. He looked over at the skull.
"Eh, is that a senior of the cave heaven?"
This nine-foot-tall skeleton radiated all nine colors, clearly no ordinary being; his aura was as unfathomable as the Dragon King’s of old.
This was the Great Power Cave Heaven.
He figured maybe some old thing had resurrected and crawled out.
Wang Xian and Lin Xia exchanged a smile.
"Master, guess who this is?"
Wang Xian scrutinized the skeleton.
Then his pupils widened, incredulous.
"Chenzhou?"
The skull nodded.
"Master, it’s me."
"You died?"
"No."
"You cultivated some ghost cultivation method? Corpse Dissection Dao?"
"No."
The bizarre story was relayed concisely to his master. Old Wang stood there frozen, mind overwhelmed with information.
"Seventy years old, Breakthrough Seven?"
"And Eight Tribulations."
"Also absorbed Heavenly Tribulation Power?"
Each of these things was more outrageous than the last.
Old Wang was well-traveled, but even he was stunned.
Before his seclusion, though Lu Chenzhou’s talent was good, even he only dared hope Chenzhou would be Seventh Realm at over two hundred years old.
To surpass the Dragon King—not even something to dream about.
The four—master and three disciples—sat on the ground together, chatting.
"The Demon Palace is gone?"
"Eternal Immortal broke through to Eighth?"
"The Evil God withdrew?"
"Tianxia Human Alliance?"
Old Wang emerged only to find the whole world had changed.
Wang Xian laughed, "Chenzhou is now first on the Heavenly Person List. Back in the day, that was the same as winning the World’s Number One title at the Foreign Martial Arts Competition. Master, are you surprised?"
"More than just surprised—I’m scared stiff!"
Old Wang exclaimed with emotion.
"Master, I’m going to the Mystic Sky Realm to campaign against the Divine Alliance. Senior brother and senior sister are both going. Will you come?"
Lu Chenzhou asked.
"I’ll go. I need more tempering now. There’s no strong demons or ghosts left in the Human World, so the Mystic Sky Realm is a good place to get fired up."
"Awesome! Junior Brother leads the team!"
Lin Xia cheered.
After Old Wang left,
Lu Chenzhou went to find Eldest Senior Brother.
Mr. Turtle recognized him at a glance.
"Though you lost your flesh body to the heavenly tribulation, that’s not a bad thing—the power of the tribulation itself is a kind of mighty force. If you can fully master it, it could become a divine skill.
What Emperor Zhan cultivated, [Undying Body], refined the physical body to the Undying Realm through tribulation-forging.
I don’t have that cultivation method, but if you can get through 6000 floors of Star-Picking Tower, there’s hope you’ll obtain it. But your [Withering and Flourishing Undying Body] isn’t inferior to Emperor Zhan’s—just use his for reference."
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother."
"Now that you’re Seventh Realm, it’s also time to forge a lifebound spiritual weapon of your own. I will teach you a method called [Blood Refining Divine Weapon], which the Old Ancestor obtained while roaming the stars at an unknown nameless ruin. The creator is unknown. This method requires merging the divine weapon and physical body completely—person and weapon as one. You can treat the weapon as one of your organs. The downside is the divine weapon loses some mysterious qualities, but the advantage is it simplifies the complicated forging steps. By nurturing it with your bloodline, your divine weapon’s advancement will sync with that of your own cultivation. The stronger your body, the greater the divine weapon’s power. Furthermore, if you have descendants, your progeny will be able to summon the divine weapon’s phantom through the bloodline, providing them with protection and improving their martial arts talent."
A jade scroll drifted over.
Lu Chenzhou’s mind was suddenly flooded with information.
"Blood Refining Method: Swallow gold and ingest stones, use essence as fire, qi as fuel, spirit as craftsman, the body as furnace—smelt rare treasure-level divine iron and treasures into elemental particles, forging within the body a prototype of the divine weapon. The divine weapon is born with spirit, linked by blood to the host, mind and will in harmony, with 100% compatibility, allowing the greatest possible combat skill power."
Lu Chenzhou’s eyes lit up with joy.
"Thank you, Senior Brother. This method is exactly what I need."
"Putting aside the Red Lotus incident, Eight Tribulations is the usual limit for cultivators breaking through Seven, but when you try to break through to Eighth and Ninth, tribulations become more numerous—it’s not just simple heavenly tribulation any more, but also all sorts of deadly fate tribulations and heart demon tribulations. You must be wary and prepare thoroughly."
"True. This time was a bit rushed."
Lu Chenzhou recalled, lingering fear in his heart.
His Dao was different from others.
He couldn’t simply copy his predecessors’ experience.
"You didn’t encounter a Heart Demon Tribulation this time, did you?"
asked Mr. Turtle.
Lu Chenzhou shook his head.
Mr. Turtle said:
"Just as I thought. You have an Immaculate State of Mind, so normal Seventh Realm Heavenly Demons cannot take advantage and thus didn’t show up. But when you break through Eighth, an Eighth Realm Heavenly Demon will descend. Unless you develop a State of Mind as lofty as a Great Power’s, you won’t be able to escape. You need to intensify heart realm and willpower cultivation."
From Immaculate to High Miao is a major hurdle.
After High Miao comes True Saint.
Lu Chenzhou returned to his dojo to stabilize his realm.
...
At the same time.
The Human World.
Elder Council.
Northern Guardian King wore a smile.
"The trial period for the Northern Alliance and Silver Eagle Federation has ended. From here on, all cultivators of the Sixth Realm on Fan Xia Star with upstanding character shall become elders of Tianxia human civilization. Starting today, Western fighters and citizens will be relocated throughout the four cities. Let me introduce two new friends—Star Hammer King and Thunder King."
The elders all applauded.
This day had finally arrived.
Human civilization—at long last—was unified.
Northern Guardian King looked at everyone’s expectant faces.
He knew what everyone was waiting for.
"Lu Heavenly King has successfully broken through to Seventh, becoming our Tianxia civilization’s forty-second cultivator at Seventh Realm. The Red Lotus Demon Venerable is also utterly annihilated, soul and spirit both scattered—a double happiness!"
The elders stood up.
"Breaking through Seventh in seventy years, truly extraordinary."
"At that age, old me was just a grandmaster."
"Undisputed number one in the human world now."
"Will anyone be able to break that record in the future?"
As everyone marveled, a figure not seen in ages strode in radiantly. Wang Changming, pretending to be calm, said: "Talents come in every era. My disciple breaks through Seventh in seventy years—could we say ’none before, none to come’? I daren’t claim so."
In that moment, Old Wang stood extra tall!
Just like the proud pine on Huangshan.
...
Soon, the news of Lu Chenzhou breaking Seventh in seventy years swept all across Xia Star. In no time, everyone—man, woman, and child—knew, as if he were the Dragon King reborn.
Though the selection had not yet started, he was already the uncontested favorite in everyone’s eyes for the Myriad Phenomena Daoist Lord and Tianxia Military Leader, shining like a sun upon the world of men.
...
Returning Ruins Great World.
"Humans, withdraw at once."
A ten-thousand-zhang giant emanating Eighth Realm aura stood at the center of a massive sea vortex, looking grim.
"You can’t escape the great tribulation by running away."
Eternal Immortal advised.
"Scram!"
The giant couldn’t be bothered to explain.
Eternal Immortal sighed, fracturing the void and leaving.
Lady E mumbled,
"What a fierce giant!"
"Once bitten by a snake, ten years fear of a rope."
"Sir, where to now?"
Lady E was already used to following Eternal Immortal.
"You head to Mystic Sky; I’ll keep traveling. In Tianxia, a junior has reached Seventh Realm; it’s time to begin the counterattack."